The Seedling

The Seedling

Living Our Deeper Song

Ashe
(“Ah-Shay”)
 The Creative in me honors the Creative in you!

I was sitting at the edge of a sandpile in Central Park in New York City while my granddaughter, Kimberly, played on the slide. I looked down and at the edge of the sandpile was a very straight, very green, very healthy and very small 4-inch seedling. I looked up at its parent and saw an exceedingly tall tree proudly looking down on this tenacious seedling. It was a very brave seedling. But it had chosen the wrong place to grow. It would not be allowed to stay there very long. I greatly admired its tenacity and its beauty. My granddaughter, who was four had just transplanted with a major change into my custody even though I was in my 50s. Her mother was not capable of taking care of her. It was a good move for her to change her environment. It was in fact a very major transplant for her. She now had room and encouragement to grow.

Here’s the point. We get to choose where we plant ourselves. Perhaps not as young children, although I believe we agreed to that particular set of parents and circumstances before we came in. But if we, once mature, find ourselves in an unhealthy environment, we owe it to ourselves to change where we are planted. That could mean beginning or ending a relationship, it could be changing jobs, it could mean moving, it could mean learning a new skill or making new choices in your life. What do you need to change about your environment that will assure you of healthy growth?  

I have made several cross-country moves in my lifetime and I knew in an instant that I was to do them. In an instant, I knew it was time to move from Kansas City to New York City. 13 years later, I knew in an instant that it was time to move from New York City to the San Francisco area of California. 17 years later, I suddenly knew it was time to move to Kansas City so I could be close to my daughter as I age. And recently, I suddenly knew that I needed to move into long term care.

Do you trust your instinct, your intuition, when it comes to major decisions? Are you able to reach your full potential where you are now? Where would you fare better? Will you make that change?

Our world is suggesting we embrace all manner of change in order for it to survive and for us to heal ourselves. We must be flexible and creative and experimental about where and how we choose to live in this chaotic evolving environment. We must continue visioning a positive and inclusive and self-healing planet.

What changes do you need to make and will you make them? If you need a new place to grow, go plant yourself there. We have more work to do.

Be a spot of ground where nothing is growing,
where something might be planted,
a seed, possibly, from the Absolute.

-Rumi 

I’d like to think I am a seed, spreading awareness.    – Kahlil Gibran

He is planted in his own integrity, and there he stands, gnarled and knotted, perfectly at ease with himself, his roots deep in truth, his branches held up to let the light in.  

-Stephen Mitchell, Second Book of Tao

DEEPER SONG AFFIRMATION

I look closely at my environment to see if there is a need to change. Then I respond to what I discover.

DEEPER SONG PROCESS 

• Look closely at where you are planted and see if it’s the best place for you at this point in time. It may be a job, a relationship or a location change. These times are asking for new growth and commitment from us. Are you planted in the right environment?

===INNER WORK===

Deepen Your Inner Awareness

Incubate Your Ideas

All things need time to grow, to mature, to reach fruition. And that includes ideas.

For me, what evolves begins with a nudge that I receive. It often comes as a single core concept that I am drawn to and I pause to examine it for myself first in writing.  The writing helps clarify and anchor it for me. 

It’s a little like talking to myself in order to discover new abilities and potentials.

An important part of incubation is to try out your ideas in different scenarios and different forms. And then give yourself time to reflect on the possibilities that emerged.

You can try different versions, different approaches, and different processes to see what and how you want to bring your idea into manifestation. You can actually try on different versions in your imagination and see where they take you.  Go exploring, look at it from different angles and see where it takes you.

Allow yourself to end up in an entirely unexpected place. 

===SELF-HEALING===

Take Responsibility for Healing Yourself

Life Is What You Make Of It 

Here in long term care, some seniors sit and watch television – all Game shows and Turner Classics. But there is a man who sings and leads the karaoke sessions. I also saw two men in wheelchairs going down the hall and one said “If you hold onto the railing, you can go faster.” 

Life is what you make it. Are you living your life in the most productive manner? Are you achieving the goals you set for yourself? And are they good goals? Productive goals? Impactful goals? Life is what you make of it. How are you doing?

The First Step

“A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step”
– Lao Tau

Just begin. Take a step and look around at the new views you have just acquired. New opportunities appear with every new view. Keep exploring. 

This week Occupational Therapy removed the holders for feet from my wheelchair to make me use my feet to move forward, which is a really good exercise. Later that day I was taken down to get a shower and needed to use my feet and the railing along the wall to move forward. There were two young high school girls, Katie and Emily, who are in training and we had a wonderful conversation about everything from my crystal to my flutes and rattles that I have in an altar shelf.  It was great fun to reach out to connect with several generations below me too. When they left, they thanked me for the conversation and I enthusiastically thanked them back.

The bed here is magical in that the top and bottom move up and down separately and the whole thing moves up and down with the press of a button. Occupational therapist Kristy showed me how to get in and out of bed. My previous version has been to throw myself backward into bed and hope the legs followed. Hers was similar but there was a purposeful approach to it which I can now emulate. 

And I love their version of a reclining bicycle which of course is a big machine with pedals and arm movers and I really love how it is freeing up my body.

The Midwest is a very kind part of the world and because they are all social workers who want to help people, it is a lovely environment. I have three extremely tall windows looking out over a Gazebo and a gardening area and I have a bird feeder outside my window. I can watch the sun rise here and I watched the sun set across the street where I moved from.  I wonder if that’s an omen.

My Life Coach Patricia said she had had fearful  dreams and I sent her a link to my podcast  The Transformative Sphere and she tried it and it worked for her.  She forwarded the link to her boss who was excited to explore my website. I knew I had a new path unfolding but I never dreamed it would be here.  You just never know where you will be called into service.  My role is to support these kind people on their deep path of service.                       

===OUTER WORK==

Explore New Potential and Possibilities

What It Means to Be in Service

I get help from a physical therapist, occupational therapist, doctor, dietitian, nurseand I actually had my haircut for the first time in over a year because I didn’t have access to one. She cut off 5 inches. I’m having all sorts of intake experiences. I know it will slow down. Meanwhile I am getting medical help I could not get to because I can no longer get in the car. All my needs are taken care of through Medicaid. I get $62 a month. But they supply everything. This is long term care. The willingness of the staff to help is touching. There is a shortage of service individuals which is going to be hard as the boomers age and need this type of care. Willingness is the corner stone of their service.

We are in service in many ways. Some ways seen so small as to be unnoticeable to others. All acts of kindness have an impact. Up your game and reach out to more people in service.

Where Do You Find A Teacher?

You choose a teacher because they provide an answer to questions you have at this moment in time. You may follow that teacher for a long time or it may be a one-time experience. 

I have recently begun to turn to my teachers of the past. I’m rereading some of their poetry and books. Those words will have a different meaning for me now because I have matured and gained insight and wisdom. The messages will go deeper and resonate more broadly. I attend a lot of free on-line summits and often find wisdom and sometimes teachers I want to experience.

Know when you are on topic. For instance, I’m tempted to take a new Qigong class and I must stop and think about how much I’ve already studied, how much work I need to do to really absorb that into my spiritual practice. Go exploring to put yourself in a position to learn something new. 

It’s also important to be able to know when a certain topic is not what you are to explore right now. I know how to do shamanic journeys and I would like to do those daily again. Look closely at how you spend your time and see what you need right now. Teachers are everywhere. It may be a moment with one of your friends, a statement on the television, or maybe in more formal settings, a podcast or an actual class. Go exploring and see what teachers call to you.

A Life Lesson From A Dramatic Change

I’m on my sixth day without watching television because my television does not work. My daughter and son-in-law are buying me a new one which is not here yet. Meanwhile I have not listened to one piece of news nor have I bothered to go look for it online. What a huge difference that is making. Partially because it’s scary out there. We have a huge election coming up which has the demise of our US democracy at stake. I need to change my focus and particularly my concept of how I spend my time. 

My daughter helped me learn how to use my Bluetooth headphones with Spotify. There is an outstanding classical station and I am humming and singing and loving every minute of it. I want to notice how my personal vibration changes with this withdrawal from dramatic daily news. I also have not played the game Spider Solitaire in seven days. Mainly because I can’t figure out where to put my tablet. But also because that was one of those things I did while I watching the news. 

Sometimes we take vacations to rest and restore and examine our habits and modify them or choose new ones. This is not a vacation, it’s a permanent life change, but it is a perfect opportunity for me to examine the choices I continue to make and have made. I have a feeling that this change from mindless habits to conscious choices will make a huge difference in my life. 

What are you doing too much of? What would you like to do more of? How will you rearrange your choices to accommodate that? 

===DEEPEN YOUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICE===

Self-Healing Spiritual Practice and Deepening Awareness of Our Cosmic Oneness

Build A Stable Spiritual Practice

A major goal for us in this time of turmoil is to build a stable place within where we can put our roots deep into a spiritual practice that helps us find balance and insight and the right action we make through all the changes we are experiencing.

There are many ways to communicate with and experience the unseen realm where we can receive the guidance we seek. When we listen, we are shown how to live a centered, focused, compassionate life. We must create and explore a path of positive change for ourselves and for the collective. You may choose ceremony, you may choose meditation, you might find yourself writing down ideas – whatever method works that brings you a deeper understanding of how we can work to facilitate positive change. Our meditation practice, our ceremonies, our beliefs and expectations bring us a deeper connection with the unseen world and the guidance that it offers. 

Be aware of what your mind is focusing on. Look at your choices and see which ones have become less than positive for you and stop doing those. 

We are part of nature and nature is always changing and unfolding. It is expanding and contracting. Notice how your life is changing and evolving and make conscious choices to explore your path. 

Notice the dimension of life where you have chosen to spend the most time and move from the 3-D world into the spiritual realms using your imagination and insights to listen to the guiding nudges of the universe. 

We can choose the dimension we live in – fear and suffering or positive expectation. We build that by deepening our awareness of ourselves as a natural part of the unfolding process. We can design our own inner landscape, plant in it what we choose and weed out what we do not want. As we deepen our inner spiritual awareness, the landscape on the physical plane will change to a more positive expression. 

Use your words and thoughts to create your reality. Watch the vibration and frequency of the emotional energy you choose to share.  Ask your helping spirits to show you how to use frequencies to create an interesting landscape that both comforts and elevates your expectations by the thought you think in the words you use. 

===GUIDANCE FROM OUR COSMIC COUNSELORS ===

Listen Beyond the Voice Within 

How To Respond To Turmoil

I have not had a TV for a full week. I came here with my old one which didn’t work here because it’s on satellite not cable. That whole week without news. When I began to see how our world is changing, I went to the Cosmic Counselors for guidance. “What are our next steps? What is our role in this unfolding shift?”

I go to my Sacred Garden. The Cosmic Counselors are once again moving in a circle around the planet which is slowly turning within their sacred circle. “It is unfolding,” says a beautiful butterfly that is flying around the planet in a counter clockwise circle. “For those of you who are aware, you must touch hearts and help to expand the vibration across the cosmic consciousness so others can see it. You can do that with your mind and your intention. And then you listen, listen for guidance for the next step. The next step is fluid and graceful and very creative. It unfolds as you explore your imagination. Give it free rein.  You can discover some of it with obvious choices that you have to make. Look for the unformed energy waiting for direction.  Listen to the signs. Look at the spaces. Be prepared for a new adventure. Hold High  Watch for your own continued balance and the new choices that are making themselves known. Keep your heart focused and expect the best to unfold for the highest good for all. That is your part of it.”

The Director sits beside me on the bench. “Unfolding. Look for your role and trust”.

When I return to my home space, I realize my role continues to be to expect the vibration, to see it and experience it and emanate it. We are Light Beings and we are to show others the higher path.

===HOW TO BE A STRONG CONTRIBUTING MEMBER OF THE DIVERSE CIRCLE OF LIGHT BEINGS===

Expand Your Role in the Rapidly Evolving Universe

Listen With Your Heart

Next time you have a conversation, listen with your heart. Listen beyond the words to the core need or emotion and what is not being said in the moment. 

When you listen with openhearted silence, you see beyond the words. You move into the core emotions and needs and beliefs that are being expressed. And you can respond to their core need. When we listen with our hearts, it lets us connect to others on a soul level, taking us beyond mere words into the realm of truest and more honest communication. Use your heart center to listen and see what new dimensions of understanding appear.

Communicate From Your Heart 

Years ago, Chris Brogan interviewed me. I have no idea how he came to choose me and I was so new to the Internet that I could barely get onto Skype. I have followed him in his newsletter ever since. He is now an executive and he recently wrote this in his newsletter which I think is a very powerful consciousness to have, particularly if you are in a position of leadership. 

“An Executive Approach to Business (And Life)

“Before You Communicate – I wrote the next idea first, then added this. Before you reach out to anyone in any part of life, ask yourself the following few questions:

• How can I co-create the best experience with this interaction?
• What do I need or want to convey?
• How do I want this person to receive it?
• How can I say this briefly? (Remove the garbage, backstory, etc)
• Does this serve everyone well?

If more people did this step before EVERY communication in ALL parts of their life, verbal or written or otherwise, life would be much more magical!””

=== DEEPER SONG PHILOSOPHIES ===

The Web of Life

“Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” – Chief Seattle

We must be conscious of our role in the universe and keep it in mind as we live our life and make our choices. Everything you do impacts the web which in turn will impact us and how we live our lives, focus our intention, and encourage others to do the same. 

===REFLECTIONS OF A DEEPER SONG PODCAST===

How Vibration Heals

Listen to my
Reflections of a Deeper Song Podcast on
Apple / Spotify / Googleand the
Deeper Song Website

==== DEEPER SONG EXPLORATION ===

Free Global Joy Summit, Nov. 13 – 16 

I love to attend free Summits. They teach you about the topic and it is a good place to find a new teacher. Here’s one I’m going to attend this week: Join the Global Joy Summit, Nov. 13 – 16 and be inspired by the contagious Joy and timely message of the Dalai Lama and the late, great Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and learn from 30+ renowned joy scientists, spiritual teachers, changemakers, and artists.

Register now for this FREE event >>

The lived experiences of these two global icons, and self described “mischievous brothers,” serve as a profound example of the power of Joy in the face of adversity.  They teach us that Joy is an essential key to meeting the many ordinary and profound challenges we now face, individually and collectively.

The summit will include a free screening of Mission: JOY — the laugh-out-loud funny documentary that shares the magical friendship, practical wisdom, and historic final in-person meeting of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu — as well as inspiring and practical sessions with 30+ speakers.

The summit November 13-16, will explore:

●     Practices to transform stress, anxiety, grief, depression, despair, isolation, challenging emotions, and difficulty

●     Practical tools to cultivate well-being, connection, love, compassion, and Joy

●     The relationship between Joy and sorrow (they’re not opposites)

●     Joy as a “clean fuel” to power transformative action

●     Ubuntu, Interconnection, and Compassion as essential keys to healing our planet and creating a good future

●     A special keynote with His Holiness the Dalai Lama

●     Live interactive workshops and musical performances

More than ever, the world needs each of us to tap into the innate love, compassion, and Joy that the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu remind us are at the core of our beings. Come for 1 session or all 20+ and join the celebration and exploration. Register now for this FREE event >>

===REFLECTIONS===

Creative Adjustment

For all my apprehension about moving across the street from where I’ve been living for 13 years, it has all gone very smoothly. And I’m exactly where I am meant to be. Much of what I anticipated did not unfold. There’s more space in my space than I expected. And I’ve never had this much help in my entire life from kind, thoughtful, willing people. When you need to make a major change be flexible, experiment, and expect the best.

===CARA’S CORNER===

Feeling Cared For

I have moved into Evergreen and I’ve never felt so cared for in my life. The first few days were very busy with everyone figuring out their role in my well-being. I will receive Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, access to a medical doctor. And I got my first haircut in 14 months. She took off 5 inches! I’m back to the real me. I’ve had a bath in the Jacuzzi and I will see the doctor here and come under her care. I get to sit beside a window using my computer again, and there is a bird feeder right outside my window. It turns out this is long-term care, not assisted living. But it is the right place for me.  It seemed like there were millions of people to come offer different types of services and all of them are wearing Covid masks so it’s hard to recognize let alone remember them all. They can help you with everything. I am eating better than I ever have, even though I’m the only vegetarian in this entire population, although some of the staff are vegetarian. I get lots of vegetables in a variety that I could not have managed as a single person buying groceries for myself. I get physical therapy. I love their version of a recumbent bike and in three days it’s making a difference. Having both physical and professional help makes a huge difference in how I can take care of myself. 

Patricia, the Life Coach Manager of my wing said her mother lived to be 113. So maybe my 13-year-old cycles of change will hold. Golly gee.

My TV was too old to work here which is on satellite instead of cable so I have been without the news for seven days which is probably a good thing. But I will modify my news watching.  My daughter and her husband are very generously going to buy me a new television with a voice remote.

I voted this week with the help of one of the section managers. That’s one of the things I can do on the physical plane to help to heal the planet.

So here I go on my new adventure.

If you find it’s time for you to receive more help, go exploring and find a place that you can call home for the next phase of your life. 

===SING A DEEPER SONG ===

A new cycle begins. A cycle of change, a cycle of evolution, a cycle of discovery. 

A new cycle begins. A cycle of change, a cycle of evolution, a cycle of discovery. I change my thinking, I change my actions, and I listen to and look for the myriad of nudges and insights the universe gives me. 

A new cycle begins. A cycle of change, a cycle of evolution, a cycle of discovery. I change my thinking, I change my actions, and I listen to and look for the myriad of nudges and insights the universe gives me. I trust the unfolding. All is well in my world. 

– Cara Lumen, October 2022 

We create our future with every thought we think, every action we take.  Move forward mindfully as you sing your Deeper Song.

Namaste,

Cara

Come Sing a Deeper Song  

I help adventurers who are ready to explore the new possibilities in the emerging energy of the Divine Feminine to align their dreams and choices with what is emerging as possible today so that they go beyond their own expectations.

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